Tryouts: New Situations Offer The Chance For Growth

Tryouts are the most terribly exciting time of the year.  It's terrible because not everyone gets placed where they want to get placed, but it's exciting because everyone will be moving into a new situation. 

With each new situation there comes a chance for you to reinvent yourself as a player and as a person.  When I played hockey I went through many ups and downs as far as the teams that I played on but each team gave me a new challenge and a new chance to expand my game.  (For those of you who are not hockey players or parents, you start out with the younger kids leagues and then move into Pee Wees, Bantams, then High School.)  My first year of Pee Wee tryouts they were going to have an 'A' team, 2 'B1' teams and a 'B2' team.  I knew going in that I did not have a shot at the 'A' team but I had set my goal to make one of the two B1 teams.  I felt I had a good tryout and showed well enough to give myself a chance, but when the teams were posted I was not on either of the B1 teams . . . or the B2 team.  This was devastating.  I now had to play in the House League.  A league for kids that either don't want to play traveling, I couldn't imagine that those kids really existed, or they were simply not good enough to play traveling.  I apparently fell into the latter category. 

After the initial shock of not making the team I wanted I began to work on my game.  I found that in this "House League" I was able to do things that I would not have had the time or speed to do if I was on the B1 team.  I started to use moves and pass the puck sharper as my confidence grew and I knew I could take more chances at this level.  Every day I went to the outdoor rink to work on my skills, including game days.  I constantly worked on my speed and technique on the little things.  By the end of the year I had a bit of confidence when it came to playing and I went into next years tryouts with that confidence.

At the tryouts for the Pee Wee 'A' team the following year I showed well again and I was ecstatic to see that I had made the 'A' team.  A huge jump from Pee Wee House to the 'A' team.  No one else was in that same situation.  There were only a handful of kids from the 'B' teams that made the jump.  It was great and I was happy to be there.  All year I continued to go to the outdoor rink and work on my game to keep on improving, but I found that at this level I was able to do less and less because of the quality of my opponents.  I was able to hold my own, but I was far from an impact player.  I spent too much time in the games trying to keep everything safe and not cost us a goal that I was not able to add anything to the team.  Never the less I really enjoyed being on the 'A' team.

Then I moved to Bantams.  I went into this tryout feeling pretty good since I had been on the 'A' team the year before.  Tryouts came and went as they always seemed to do, with me leaving them feeling I did my best.  This year they were going to have one 'A' team, 2 'B1' teams and 2 'B2' teams.  While I came in with the goal to make the 'A' team, I knew realistically I probably belonged at the 'B1' level.  But it doesn't hurt to aim for the top team. 

When the team lists were posted I wasn't on the 'A' team, no big deal.  Then I saw the lists for the 'B1' teams and my name was not on it.  Typo right? The B2 team? . . . I was placed on one of the B2 teams.  Devastating.  I had worked so hard over the last couple of years and all it had gotten me was a place on the 4th team.  (It could have been the 5th since there were two B2 teams.)  After some tears over this natural disaster in my life, I got up, went to the outdoor rink and began to work on my game. 

Attitude is everything.  By the time we started practicing with the B2 team I had already decided that I wanted to be an impact player on this team.  I wasn't going to play it safe and only worry about not letting the other team score.  I wanted to start scoring goals and setting up goals myself.  Through this hard work and attitude I was named Captain of the team.  A huge honor for me since I was a pretty quiet kid.  I started to enjoy having the puck on my stick because at this level I could do so many things that I couldn't at the higher level.  When the B1 teams were hit with injuries and I was asked to join the team that I had originally wanted to play on at the beginning of the year I declined and told the coach that I liked 'My Team' and I was developing so much in my current situation.

Then I moved into HS hockey.  I made the JV team.  Awesome.  I played a ton and I was an impact player due to my development through the years.  By the end of the season when the Varsity rosters are expanded I was chosen to be a part of the Varsity team.  What an unbelievable achievement since only 4 years before I hadn't made one of the 5 traveling teams.  We were scheduled to play Roseau, who was on their way to the State Title that year, luckily I didn't have to travel since both the coach and I knew that there was no way I was ready to play against them, and I was able to go off to a soccer tournament that weekend:) 

The next year I made Varsity as a Sophomore.  There was only one other Sophomore selected.  My friend who had followed almost the same development path that I had, going from B teams to A teams and back.  By the end of the year one other sophomore would join us.  He was one of the kids who was on the 'A' Teams every year.  Great player.  All the other kids who were on the 'A' teams all the way through their youth hockey careers did not make Varsity until their Junior years.  It was funny to see how that worked out.

Life is all about how you deal with what you perceive as adversity and success.  While I am not saying that if you don't make the team you want this year, you will make it next year because cases like mine are rare.  I am also not saying that just because you are on the top team for 4 years in a row you wont make the top team in the future.  I am saying that no matter what team you are placed on you have the opportunity to work hard and improve yourself.  You are going into a new team and you can help choose what type of player you want to be.

Success is continued success, meaning along the way you're gonna have ups and downs, but over time, the pendulum keeps going up and up and up.  That's why only a few people make the big time and climb the highest of mountains.  That, to me, is success.